Thank you for posting this. The inter-biblical
period has always fascinated me.
I've added you guys to the ping list. We start the New Testament next week.
God Bless.
Marlowe
I trust then you've read the book of 2 Maccabees?
After the rise of Christianity, the non-Christian Jews organized a revolt, which was crushed by Caesar. In retribution, he slaugheterd the Jews and destroyed the temple. The Jews blamed their destruction on God punishing them for going "astray" with Christianity, which they saw as a Hellenic corruption of the faith of Moses. Further, they reasoned that God would never permit his Temple to be destroyed, so the Dedication was not effective, and hence Judas Maccabees was not truly a prophet.
1 and 2 Maccabees were this degraded for the following reasons:
1. They were written during the Hellenic period, which gave rise to Christianity, so must be seen as proto-Christian, and therefore corrupt. (The NT depicts the Spirit of God leaving the Temple at the time of the crucifixion. Jesus' celebration of Feast of the Dedication confirms the holiness of the Feast.)
2. The books too plainly asserted Christian doctrines.
3. Judas Maccabees was considered disproved as a prophet, and hence the curse that the prophetic spirit departed Israelwas believed to be still in force. (obviously Christians can't believe that, because prophets such as Anna, John, and Zecharaias came between the curse and the incarnation.)
For these reasons, towards the close of the first century AD, Jews excised 7 books from their scriptures, and portions of three others. THis created some controversy in Christian circles as to whether convert Jews must accept their validity to convert to Christianity. Nonetheless, these books were used within Mass universally until Luther.
(The order of Mass was the only definition of the Old testament canon in Christianity until Luther and the Council of Trent.)